Peter Emil Julius Blum (4 May 1925 – 5 December 1990) was an Afrikaans poet. As a child, he emigrated to the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

with his family. From an early age Blum was already able to speak several languages, including German and Italian. After studying literature at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

and at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, he took up a position as a librarian in Cape Town and, later, in Kroonstad in the Orange Free State. Blum married Henrietta Cecilia Smit (born 3 November 1911, died 2002 in Worthing, Sussex, UK), a South African art teacher, in 1955. His success as a poet was first affirmed in 1956 when he won the Reina Prinsen Geerligs Prize for his volume ''Steenbok tot poolsee'' (the title being a reference to the Tropic of Capricorn and the southern Antarctic Ocean, relating to the geographical location of South and Southern Africa). Blum was twice denied

South African citizenship South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. Kannemeyer (1993) speculates that citizenship was denied because of Blum's vociferous opposition to the ruling National Party's policy of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. Frustrated by this turn of events, Blum and his wife left South Africa to resettle in the suburb of Hounslow in London. During his imprisonment between 1975 and 1982,

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of ...

wrote the poem, ''Ballade van ontroue bemindes''(" Ballade of Unfaithful Lovers"). Inspired by

François Villon François Villon (; Modern French: ; ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these e ...

's '' Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis'', Breytenbach compared Afrikaner dissidents Peter Blum,

Ingrid Jonker Ingrid Jonker (19 September 1933 – 19 July 1965) was a South African poet and one of the founders of modern Afrikaans literature. Her poems have been widely translated into other languages. Born into an Afrikaner family with four hundred y ...

, and himself to unfaithful lovers, who had betrayed

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

poetry by taking leave of it. Louise Viljoen (2012), ''Ingrid Jonker: Poet under Apartheid'', page 136. Peter Blum died in London on 5 December 1990, aged 65.

Works

* ''Steenbok tot poolsee'' (1955
Tafelberg
Cape Town. * ''Enklaves van die lig'' (1958
Human & Rousseau
Cape Town.

References

Works about Peter Blum

* Kannemeyer, J.C. (1993) ''Wat het geword van Peter Blum?'' Tafelberg: Cape Town. * Kannemeyer, J.C. (2009) ''Briewe van Peter Blum'' Hemel en see Uitgewers: Hermanus. * Kannemeyer, J.C. (1983) ''Geskiedenis van die Afrikaanse Literatuur Band 2'' H&R-Academica: Pretoria

External links

Biography on publisher's web site

Stellenbosch Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Peter 1925 births 1990 deaths Afrikaans-language poets Italian male poets Italian emigrants to South Africa Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian male writers People from Trieste South African poets